Any OBD-II software for OS-X?

February 1, 2007 7:12 PM

Can anyone help me find some OBD-II software for the Mac?

I love my Mac laptop and it does about 90% of what I need from a computer. However, I can't seem to find any software (or hardware, like a USB adapter for the 16 pin datalink, for that matter) that'd give my Mac some scan-tool capabilities.
I'm not looking for a cheap global code reader, though. Those are a dime a dozen from any auto parts store. The software would have to be pretty professional quality, with a lab scope, dmm, the works.
Really, I'm trying to save myself from having to get a second computer or spend a big, sad, pile of money for some Snap-On product.

posted by Jon-o to technology (4 comments total)

• OBD-II to DB9 serial adapter

• KeySpan serial-to-USB adapter

• How to grab serial port data in Terminal.app

• FreeDiag — an open-source tool for sending ODB-II commands

• Chart and graphing tools for Mac OS X
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:32 PM on February 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm with Blazecock; the Keyspan serial adapters are the ones you want for use with a Mac. There are some others around, but I've had really mixed results with them. The Keyspan drivers give you a regular UNIX-style device (/dev/ttyUSB0 or something) that should work with all POSIX-compliant software.

I cheaped out and got a generic serial adapter to use with my GPS, and I never got the thing's kernel modules to load...anyway, don't cut corners there.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:06 PM on February 1, 2007

yeah i had a cheap prolific one and although it works great under windows, the KEXTs they supplied caused the trackpad to go all jumpy. at least on a powerbook G4. i dont know if the drivers have been updated for intel macs.

do you have a macbook? because today i sucessfully got CAN bus dumping on the prius working with a CAN232 and the above mentioned usb/serial converter. of course i had to use parallels + windows for this, so you'd need a macbook and not a powerbook.
posted by joeblough at 8:25 PM on February 1, 2007

Funny, I too just bought a keyspan serial-to-USB adaptor yesterday to replace the Rat Shack one whose drivers have been crashing XP. I am using it with an Innovate Motorsports LC-1 wideband O2 sensor. I also am able to skip the usb->serial step on OBDII with a Tactrix cable. (I'm interfacing with a Mitsubishi Evo, and it's pretty easy.) The reflashing software can run emulated in OSX, apparently, though I use windows. What car are you trying to interface with?
posted by wzcx at 10:18 AM on February 2, 2007